I bought Battle BeastsAntalor and Nychirix on sight in 2013 - or so I remember - and I didn't open them until earlier this year. When a line loses momentum, it's easy to put it aside and grumble. In a short time we saw Beast Saga also flame out, and the lovely Onell Design Armorvor provided few animal heads. A lot of unmade beast figures were teased, and this moose and bat set made for a nice combo platter. The sculpting is excellent and the use of Minimates parts is clever - they're just not fun as actual toys.
The moose Antalor looks great, with a goofy smile, pale eyes, and huge antlers. I was excited to see a new one because I wanted (and did not have) Major Moose as a child, so this new one looked like fun - and it does look fun. I love the armor, the detailed runes on the axe, and the abundant accessories. What I don't like are the stiff fingers that make it difficult to hold the accessories, and the hands pop off easily - a feature or bug of the format. It's a beautiful display piece with the axe slung over his back, but I found the hands to be too frustrating to mess with out of fear of breakage. It's a strange reaction to have to a figure, but here we are.
Similar but different, Nychirix the bat has a dynamite sculpt with tiny fur patterns and ferocious fangs, plus leathery wings to boot. He has hands big enough to grip his weapons, and those hands pop out easily. I like how the bat parts mesh with the brick figure but there's more evidence of said block origins when compared to his pack mate. The weapon is a lot cooler, and can easily plug in to a peg on the warrior figure's belt. The mouth has painted fangs and a red mouth, and the jaw is not articulated as it may appear at first glance. The armor is good - but Antalor's looks cooler.
The Battle Beasts line of Minimates had a long runway before take-off and ultimately kind of just sputtered. It came, we saw, it went. They're nifty collectibles and strong designs, but if you're looking for gripping fingers, Diamond traded those away for top-notch sculpting. Apparently you can't have both when sub-3-inch animal warriors are concerned. I don't see many of this set for sale so I can't even guess the current going rate, but your desire to want it are going to be directly proportional to your obsessive collecting disorders. (Yes I bought them all.)
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